e4200v2 refurbished invasion - wondering why

[BadOmen]

Greetings.
Since January, the router market in Canada has a hard-to-beat contender offered by stores belonging to the NCIX group: the Linksys E4200 v2 Refurbished, for $69.

Based on what I see on local forums, the thing is selling nicely, but their stock never seem to dwindle.

Anyone has a clue why there are so many refurbished/recertified of those around? That means there were a LOT of them returned, or damaged, correct? I'm trying to find out which demon hides within that router, and if it's worth the apparently great price.

Thanks

PS. Yes, I read the review here and noticed the router's flaws, and lack of Tomato compatibility, but I ask myself if that's enough to make it the king of RMA.

 

[thiggins]

I have no insider knowledge. But I would guess the new Belkin owners are trying to streamline inventory. Since the E4200v2 is the same as the EA4500 it's confusing to have both models in inventory. So they are probably just cleaning them out.

 

[BadOmen]

Makes sense, but would they brand new units as "refurbished" expecting to get rid of them faster? They could just offer the discount.

Nice, now all dual-bands in Canada have a representative in that price range:

e4200v2 refurbished for $70
e3200 new for $70
WD Mynet N750 for $60
all with shipping included.

Since reviews of the Mynet N750 are very rare, it's hard to tell the best pick, though.

 

[thiggins]

Why would you choose an N750 over an N900 class product?

 

[BadOmen]

Well, when running a comparison at Router Charts between the e4200v2, e3200 and e2700, the 4200's throughput always ends up lower than the others.

Plus, there are reports that its QoS, a feature I would love to see working nicely, is not exactly the greatest. And then you're stuck with stock firmware.

But then again, you are the one who have actually used them all and know who's who. I just know them from graphs.

 

[thiggins]

The E4200v2 / EA4500 retest unfortunately makes them really look bad for downlink. This is due to an incompatibility between the ASUS PCE-AC66U 802.11ac adapter that is now our standard and the Marvell chipset used in the routers. If you look at the uplink plots, you'll get a better idea of relative performance.

N750 class products were originally introduced before 3x3 chipsets were out for both bands. Manufacturers continue to produce them and even introduce new N750s because it allows them to shave a little cost off and offer a slightly ($10-$20) lower price point vs. N900 class routers.

If you are going to go for a three-stream capable router, which you should do only if you have the clients to match, go for an N900 class.

Most people overbuy when choosing a router. N600 class routers are a better price performance match for the devices that most people have.

 

[BadOmen]

True. In my specific case, N600 would suffice, but then comes an N900 for the exact same price... I'm trying to find where's the catch.

I can see a higher than normal number of reports of wifi inconsistency and general failure after a few months of use in the e4200v2, but that's pretty much it.